Read: Philippians 2:1-11
Prayer Focus:
- What difference does it make for you to believe that the One who was equal with God emptied himself of all but love?
- How have you seen or experienced the self-emptying love of God revealed in Jesus?

TUESDAY - Why This Waste?

Read: John 12:1-11
Prayer Focus:
How have you experienced the extravagant love of God?
How could you respond in gratitude like Mary?

WEDNESDAY - Servant in the House

Read: John 13:1-120
Prayer Focus:
- Where have you seen the kind of servant life to which Jesus calls us?
- How are you following Jesus in the way of servanthood?

MAUNDY THURSDAY - A Last Supper That Still Lives

Read: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Prayer Focus:
- When have you experienced Christ's presence in Communion?
- How will you remember Christ today?

FRIDAY - Earthquake at Noah

Read: Matthew 27:45-54
Prayer Focus:
Behold the Savior of us all
nailed to the shameful tree;
how vast the love that him inclined,
to bleed and die for thee!
Hark how he groans! while nature shakes,
and earth's strong pillars bend!
The temple's veil in sunder breaks,
the solid marbles rend.
But soon he'll break death's envious chain
and in fully glory shine.
O lamb of God, was ever pain,
was ever love like think?

There was no message for March 18 as we had a guest speaker ... but here is the devotional.
LENT DEVOTIONAL
WEEK 5

Monday - Now & Then

Read: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Jeremiah 31:31-34
Prayer Focus:
- What steps do you need to take to live more deeply in God's word

Tuesday - Living in the Word

Read: Psalm 119: 9-16
Prayer Focus:
- In what ways do you treasure God's woprd in your heart?
- What steps do you need to take to live more deeply into God's word?

Wednesday - In the Garden With Jesus

- When have you prayed the way Jesus prayed in the garden?
- How have you experienced self-giving love?

Thursday - His Time Had to Come

Read: John 12:20-23
Prayer Focus:
- What does it mean for you to lose your life to find it?
- How would you like to face death when your time comes?

Friday - The Laughter of the Universe

Read: Psalm 2
Prayer Focus:
- How do you make room for laughter in your faith?
- How can you share that joy with others?How can you share that joy with others?

HEALING scarsLUKE 24:36-39
MARCH 11

LENT DEVOTIONALWEEK 4
MONDAY - SNAKES IN THE DESERT

Read: Numbers 21:4-9
Prayer Focus:

What feelings does the Bible story generate in you?

What "snakes" of sin slither about in your life?

TUESDAY - THE LOVE THAT LASTS FOREVER

Read: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Prayer Focus:

When have you suffered as a result of sin?

When have you discovered the steadfast love of God that lasts forever?

WEDNESDAY - THE BRONZE SNAKE AND THE BLOODY CROSS

Read: John 3:14-21
Prayer Focus:

See from his head, his hands his feet.
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Isaac Watts

THURSDAY - RISEN WITH CHRIST

I did not think, I did not strive, the deep peace burnt me alive;
the bolted door had broken in, I knew that I had done with sin.
I knew that Christ had given me birth to brother all the souls on earth ...

O glory of the lighted mind. How dead I'd been, how dumb, how blind.
The station brook, to my new eyes, was babbling out of Paradise,
The waters rushing from the rain were singing Christ had risen again.
I thought all earthly creatures knelt from rapture of the joy I felt.

How have you experienced what Masterfield described in his poem?

How does the cross change the way you view your life and the world around you?

FRIDAY - BUT GOD!

Read: Ephesians 2:11
Prayer Focus:

How have you experienced a "But God" moment in your life?

How far along this journey into life and joy are you?

BEYOND BELIEF
WEEK 3MARCH 4, 2018

lENT DEVOTIONAL
WEEK 3
MONDAY - FINDING JESUS

Read: Luke 24:13-35
Prayer Focus:

When have you felt the grief, confusion or fear these disciples must have felt?

How have you experienced the presence of Christ in Holy Communion?

tuesday - shaking the mountain

Read: Exodus 20:1-17Prayer Focus:

How have you experienced God's liberating grace?

What does it mean for you to live into the likeness of God's love?

wednesday - shaking the temple

Read: John 2:13-22
Prayer Focus:

What parts of my life need the purifying and refining fire of God's love?

Where am I called to offer a God-centered protest to the abuse and exploitation in our world?

THURSDAY - DIVINE FOOLISHNESS

Read: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Prayer Focus:

When have you felt that there was something foolish about the cross?

What does it mean for you to believe that Jesus on the cross is the Christ who is the center of the universe?

FRIDAY - FOOLS FOR CHRIST

Read: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Prayer Focus:

How does the idea of being a fool for Christ feel to you?

What kind of fool are you?

Surprising Hope
Mark 16:1-8
February 25, 2018

lent devotional
week 2Monday - Sarah's Surprise

Read: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Prayer Focus:
- When have you shared with others the laughter of disbelief?
- What doubts do you bring to your reading of the Gospels?

tuesday - hoping against hope

Read: Romans 4:13-25
Prayer Focus:
- When have you doubted God's promise in your life or for the world?
- Where have you seen evidence that God can do what God has promised?

Wednesday - the surprising paradox

Read: Mark 8:31-38
Prayer Focus:
- How have "the tentacles of narcissim" penetrated your life?
- What will it mean for you to surrender your self-centeredness to the infinite love of God?

thursday - surprised by god

Read: Mark 9:2-9; 2 Peter 1:16-19
Prayer Focus:
- When have you glimpsed God's glory?
- How have transfiguring experiences sustained you as you live out ordinary days?

friday - my god, why?

Read: Psalm 22
Prayer Focus:
- When have you felt forsaken by God?
- What difference will it make for you to believe that God was present with us at the cross?

Lent Devotional
Week 1

Monday - The Voice That Shakes the Wilderness

tuesday - wrestling wild beasts with jesus

Read: Mark 1:12-13; Hebrews 4:14-16
- What "wild beasts" do you face in your life?
- Will you claim the promise that Jesus faces them with you?

wednesday - to hell with jesus

Read: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Prayer Focus:
- What difference does it make for you to know that the risen Christ "descended into hell"?
- When have you known the presence of the One who left His Father's throne, emptied himself
of all but love, and entered into your life?

thursday - the ones for whom the world waits

Read: Genesis 9:8-17; Romans 8:18-25
Prayer Focus:
- How does God's covenant with Noah speak to you?
- How will you become one for whom creation waits?

friday - for spacious skies

Read: Psalm 118
Prayer Focus:

- Where are the "tight" places in your life?
- How is God's grace opening you to the "spacious skies" of God's infinite love?